Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called on Republicans to ratify the START treaty with Russia, saying its in the interest of the United States and its allies. Watch:
The problem: all the trending we are seeing as we move further into the 21st century is towards a premium being placed on partisanship and ideology. Power politics seems the paramount goal. While some bigwigs insist the treaty will eventually pass, it would not be surprising to see it burn on the alter of political gamesmanship — a treaty that most likely would get the GOP votes if the President wasn’t a Democrat. The constraints now working against bipartisanship are greater than ever even in the case of something in the national interest.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.